III. (1) THIS KNOW ALSO. — Better rendered, _But know this._ The Apostle had warned Timothy (2 Timothy 2:3) not to allow fear of oncoming peril and trouble to paralyse his efforts in the Master’s cause, for the Lord’s true servant should never lose heart, and then had proceeded (2 Timothy 2:14) to... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR MEN SHALL BE LOVERS OF THEIR OWN SELVES. — Hofmann and others have attempted to portion out these vices into groups. But any such effort seems artificial. A certain connection seems to exist in some part; but when pressed to preserve the groups, a strained meaning has to be given to some of the... [ Continue Reading ]
WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION. — Careless and regardless of the welfare of those connected with them by ties of blood. TRUCEBREAKERS. — Better rendered, _implacable._ FALSE-ACCUSERS. — Or, _slanderers._ (See 1 Timothy 3:11.) INCONTINENT. — Having no control over the passions. FIERCE. — Inhuman, sava... [ Continue Reading ]
TRAITORS. — Or, _betrayers,_ probably, as it has been suggested, of their Christian brethren. (Comp. Luke 6:16, where this epithet is used of Judas Iscariot, “which also was the traitor;” and also Acts 7:52, where Stephen, in his Sanhedrin speech, uses this term “betrayers” of the Jews, “of whom — t... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVING A FORM OF GODLINESS, BUT DENYING THE POWER THEREOF. — Keeping up a show of observing the outward forms of religion, but renouncing its power and its influence over the heart and the life; shewing openly that they neither acknowledged its guidance or wished to do so. These, by claiming the tit... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR OF THIS SORT ARE THEY WHICH CREEP INTO HOUSES, AND LEAD CAPTIVE SILLY WOMEN. — The corrupting influence of these hypocritical professors of the religion of Jesus must have been already great, and the danger to all real vital godliness in Ephesus imminent, for Paul here specifies one of the most... [ Continue Reading ]
EVER LEARNING, AND NEVER ABLE TO COME TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH. — A morbid love of novelty, and a hope to penetrate into mysteries not revealed to God’s true teachers, spurred these female learners on; but “to _the full_ knowledge of the truth” — for this is the more accurate rendering of the G... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW AS JANNES AND JAMBRES WITHSTOOD MOSES. — To one brought up, like Timothy, by a pious Jewish mother, and who from a child knew the Holy Scriptures and all the history and ancient traditions connected with the early history of the people, such a comparison would be very striking. No child of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY SHALL PROCEED NO FURTHER. — After that St. Paul, with no gentle hand, had torn aside the veil which was hiding apparently from Timothy the real state of his great charge at Ephesus, and had pointed out what fearful ravages among his flock had been committed by these ambitious and evil men,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU HAST FULLY KNOWN MY DOCTRINE. — Literally, _But thou wert a follower of my doctrine;_ thou followedst as a disciple, and thus hast fully known. The Greek word translated “fully known” (see 1 Timothy 4:6) denotes a diligently tracing out step by step. See Luke 1:3, where the same word is ren... [ Continue Reading ]
PERSECUTIONS, AFFLICTIONS. — St. Paul adds to “persecutions” “afflictions” — for not merely were his plans thwarted, his hopes baffled, his friends alienated, through the persistent enmity of his opponents, but _bodily_ suffering was inflicted on him — stoning, scourging, long and weary periods of i... [ Continue Reading ]
YEA, AND ALL THAT WILL LIVE GODLY. — But St. Paul would not allow it to be thought for a moment that in the fact of his enduring persecution and suffering there was anything remarkable or singular; so he adds the words of this verse, which repeat in a peculiarly solemn way the great Christian truth... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT EVIL MEN AND SEDUCERS SHALL WAX WORSE AND WORSE. — This verse is closely connected with the following (2 Timothy 3:14), to which, indeed, it serves as an introduction. 2 Timothy 3:14 takes up again the exhortation to Timothy begun in 2 Timothy 3:10 : “But thou hast fully known my doctrine,” &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT CONTINUE THOU IN THE THINGS WHICH THOU HAST LEARNED. — But Timothy, on the other hand, was to continue in the things he had learned. Evil teaching would become worse; the opposition to truth would, as the ages rolled on, become more intense; but Timothy and his successors must remember that ther... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THAT FROM A CHILD THOU HAST KNOWN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. — The Greek words translated “from a child” should be rendered, _from a very child,_ as the word denotes that Timothy’s instruction in the Holy Scriptures began at a very early and tender age. THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. — Literally, _the sacred w... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD. — Although this rendering is grammatically possible, the more strictly accurate translation, and the one adopted by nearly all the oldest and most trustworthy versions (for example, the Syriac and the Vulgate), and by a great many of the principal exposi... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE PERFECT, THROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS. — The “man of God” here is no official designation, but simply designates the Christian generally, who is striving, with his Master’s help, to live a life pleasing to God; and the “good works” have no special reference to t... [ Continue Reading ]